Unitarian Fellowship of Huntington, 619 6th Avenue, Huntington, WV 25701-2103
Member of the Unitarian Universalist Association �� Newsletter Number 2010:2
President: Bob Williams �� Vice President/Programs Director: Randy Miller �� Treasurer: Jim Maphet
Newsletter Editor: Jack Wilkinson III (304-521-9201)
The Free Seeker
The Voice of Liberal Religion in the Tri‐State
JANUARY 20, 2010
EVENTS OF SUNDAY, JANUARY 24, 2010
11:00 A.M. PROGRAM with the U. U. Fellowship:
Randy Miller: "The Art and Religion of Mustang Bhutan"
Bhutan is a kingdom in the East Himalayas between Tibet and India. Its early
history is a mystery, but the British East India Company made a treaty with its king in
1774 for the importation of its tea. In 1910 the British took over Bhutan's foreign
relations, a responsibility India assumed in 1947. Randy will present the Bhutanese
temple art, which is in the process of restoration and aspects of its major faith, which is
Lamaism, giving it a natural kinship with Tibet.
FUTURE PROGRAMS
January 31st: Jocelyn Muth reviews War Is A Racket by General Smedley Butler
February 7th: "Open Discussion"
February 14th: Mike Mitchell will speak on the Aids Task Force
February 21st: "Autobiography" with Randy Miller
February 28th: Bill Patton on Religion in America
March 7: "Open Discussion:
CUUPS meets Thursdays 6:00 to 8:00 PM and the Tri‐State Meditation Group will be
meeting in April.
A RETROSPECTIVE OF LAST SUNDAY'S PROGRAM: JIM MAPHET'S AUTOBIOGRAPHY
Jim Maphet was born on February 26, 1934 (Pisces on the cusp of Aquarius) in
Cincinnati, Ohio. When he was about three years of age he and his family were
flooded out of their four family flat, and they went to live with Jim's great aunt. He
remembers walking to kindergarten in a school where all the teachers, except the shop
teacher, were women, a situation at that time generally typical of the entire nation.
He said he was a teacher's pet. When he was in 6th grade World War II ended, and the
family moved to a new house in Amelia, Ohio. He made the baseball team in his
sophomore year of high school and played third base. In basketball he became captain
of a team that won the championship. In a senior class of 25 he was valedictorian. At
age 10 he was a volunteer worker in Civil Defense, in which he wore a tin hat and
Unitarian Fellowship of Huntington, 619 6th Avenue, Huntington, WV 25701-2103
Member of the Unitarian Universalist Association �� Newsletter Number 2010:2
President: Bob Williams �� Vice President/Programs Director: Randy Miller �� Treasurer: Jim Maphet
Newsletter Editor: Jack Wilkinson III (304-521-9201)
accompanied the air warden, who walked around during practice air raids checking
houses for lights.
He despaired of his dream of being a chemist, but he went to the University of
Cincinnati and became a chemical engineer. He got five job offers and ended up going
to Shell Chemical for $450.00 a month in Deer Park, Illinois. Thereafter he made about
thirteen job moves. Getting bored with the work he was doing he considered the
army. In college he had taken a course in R.O.T.C., so he opted for a commission. He
trained six months in Houston and then went to the Infantry School at Fort Benning,
Georgia, (I went there too. Ed.) where he completed his training and received his
lieutenant's bars. He noted his impression of racial segregation at that time and the
difficulty he had traveling on leave with three black soldiers. In 1963 he went TDY to
Germany to serve six months under General Willflicken. He was in Berlin three months
for war games. He mustered out with the rank of captain, a bit early due to the death
of his father.
He departed from "miserable" Houston to work at the Ashland Oil Refinery in
Kentucky. With a dash of humor he said that they kept changing the name of the
company, but since he already knew how to get there the name change didn't matter.
He was involved in something called 'Unit Checkout,' in which he diagrammed the
machinery bolt by bolt. He wrote operating manuals, taught classes, and was involved
in such processes as fluid flow and gasoline blending. After retiring he did consulting,
which at age 76 he still does occasionally.
At the end of his talk his listeners wanted to know more, so they questioned him
about his family. Jim conceded that his first wife had been sick for 40 of the 45 years
that they were married. She had two open heart surgeries among other procedures.
He also had a disappointing relationship with his son, who ended up committing
suicide. These terrible burdens he has had to bear must have contributed to his
present serenity. When questioned on his religious journey, he said that his mother
had been a Baptist and his father an atheist. In his own search he eventually
discovered Rosicrucianism, specifically A.M.O.R.C. (Ancient Mystical Order Rosae
Crucis) headquartered in California. We never did get to his journey into Buddhism,
much less Unitarian Universalism. J.W.
HOMILY BY THE REVEREND JACK WILKINSON: "THE QUESTION OF BELIEF"
The sublime achievement of liberal religion in the 19th and 20th centuries has
been the separation of belief from ethical/moral philosophy, which in traditional
historical religion we find united. The complete history of this separation in the United
States would take up a lot of space, so suffice it to say that a significant part of it
occurred under the aegis of Felix Adler, founder of the Ethical Culture Society in New
York City in 1875, which spearheaded the ethical movement in this country and later in
Unitarian Fellowship of Huntington, 619 6th Avenue, Huntington, WV 25701-2103
Member of the Unitarian Universalist Association �� Newsletter Number 2010:2
President: Bob Williams �� Vice President/Programs Director: Randy Miller �� Treasurer: Jim Maphet
Newsletter Editor: Jack Wilkinson III (304-521-9201)
Europe. Before that Adler had been a co‐founder of the Free Religious Society in 1867,
mentioned in last week's newsletter as a movement within Unitarianism. Adler himself
departed from his native Judaism in order to embody this essential separation of ethics
and morals from religious beliefs.
However, when we affirm this separation, as contemporary Unitarian
Universalism emphatically has, then, as it seems to me, we experience a division of
imagination between heart‐felt beliefs on the one hand and head‐oriented self‐evident
truths on the other, the latter being arguable and the former being unarguable. The
reason for this distinction is that beliefs were brought by heavenly messengers, who
are no longer around to argue with, whereas champions of self‐evident truth face us
from across the aisle in our own image.
Felix Adler believed that the truths and values in religion (as opposed to beliefs)
needed to be restated and fitted into a larger synthesis. "He compared religious
growth to the growth of a tree and said, ‘to accept that religion should continue to
grow along Hebrew or Christian lines was like expecting that a tree would develop
along one of its branches. There is a limit beyond which a branch cannot go. Then
growth must show itself by putting out a new branch.’ " (Quote from Encyclopedia
Britannica, 1961 "The Ethical Movement")
If we begin with Thomas Jefferson's self‐evident truths as suggested in the
Declaration of Independence, they are (to paraphrase) 1) the essential equality of all
humans, 2) their shared rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, and 3) the
right to revolt against a despotic government. Feel free to add some of your own.
Now imagine us all united around these self‐evident truths, the nuances of which we
are able to debate without rancor. At this point we should feel free, on an individual
basis, to pick our beliefs back up and set them beside our commonly‐held self‐evident
truths without confusion. JW3
LIGHT FROM JACK'S LANTERN
Jim Maphet's statement that he was a Rosicrucian adds one more esotericist to
the fold besides myself. It is my aim to satisfy your curiosity concerning this movement
by consulting the Encyclopedia Britannica this week and later some more intimate
works.
Although there seem to be Rosicrucian societies all over the world, they differ in
various ways, for example as to the degree of their religiosity, some being relatively
devout, others relatively secular. Also some are openly active and others obscure. All
would probably claim a blend of ancient mysticism with modern science, and, indeed,
all wouild seem to be keepers of ancient texts. They are eclectic, inasmuch as they
combine Egyptian Hermeticism, Christian Gnosticism, Jewish Cabalism, Alchemy, and a
variety of other beliefs and practices.
Unitarian Fellowship of Huntington, 619 6th Avenue, Huntington, WV 25701-2103
Member of the Unitarian Universalist Association �� Newsletter Number 2010:2
President: Bob Williams �� Vice President/Programs Director: Randy Miller �� Treasurer: Jim Maphet
Newsletter Editor: Jack Wilkinson III (304-521-9201)
The earliest reference to a Rosicrucian order appears in the Fama Fraternitatis in
1614. It recounts the journey of the movement's reputed founder, Christian
Rosenkreutz through Damascus, Egypt and Fez, where he came into possession of
much secret wisdom. He returned to Germany, where he confided this wisdom to
three, who in turn passed it on to eight, who then separated, each going to a different
country.
According to the Confessio, which is bound up with the Fama in some of its
editions, Christian Rosenkreutz was born in 1378 and lived 106 years or until 1484. His
tomb was then hidden for 120 years, making its discovery fall in 1604.
Historical facts are not firmly nailed down, so there is some question as to
whether Christian Rosenkreutz might be a mythical or symbolic figure. R. Swinburne
Clymer, for example, sees in him a parallel to Paracelsus, who some hold to be the real
founder of the order.
H. Spencer Lewis, founder of A.M.O.R.C. (previously referenced) states that the
order's medieval revival is an echo of its previous incarnation in antiquity, where it
involved such personages as Solomon, Jesus, Philo and Plotinus as well as such orders
as that of the Essenes.
Mr. Clymer (mentioned above) was the leader of a rival order headquartered in
Quakertown, PA that traced its roots in North America to revolutionary times. It
should be noted, finally, that Rosicrucianism has been mixed up with Freemasonry
throughout the post‐medieval period. JW3
MARTIN LUTHER KING DAY, JANUARY 18, 2010
The principal celebration in Huntington was at the 16th Street Baptist Church. I
make it a habit of going each year, wherever I may be living, unless I'm sick, as I was in
2009. I got there early and sat in the front row, where I was ultimately engulfed in
VIP's. At 6:00 P.M. we heard from the usual suspects, including Mayor Wolf, Rabbi
Wucher, and Marshall's President Kopp. Among other entertainers the Unity in the
Community Choir, an all‐black ensemble, put on a whiz‐bang show. The keynote
speaker was Dr. Philip Williams of San Antonio, Texas, whose persistent theme was,
"Be a headlight, not a tail light, a voice, not an echo." However, his speech had a
remarkable twist, because he used a clip from the film "We Are Marshall" to show how
a young black man, Nate Ruffin, was able to sway Marshall University's governing
board to preserve the football program after its team's tragic plane crash of 1970.
Everywhere across the USA MLK is celebrated on his birthday. Some
celebrations are better than others, and it's hard to tell beforehand how they will turn
out. However, as UU's we are invested in the Civil Rights movement and in social
justice in general, so we, of all people, ought to be there in force. This year we were
Unitarian Fellowship of Huntington, 619 6th Avenue, Huntington, WV 25701-2103
Member of the Unitarian Universalist Association �� Newsletter Number 2010:2
President: Bob Williams �� Vice President/Programs Director: Randy Miller �� Treasurer: Jim Maphet
Newsletter Editor: Jack Wilkinson III (304-521-9201)
there, however meager our number, and I made it a point to let Shari Clarke, organizer
of the event, know that we were.
One final note: it was remarkable among events of this kind that in this one
nobody passed the hat.